A part of their family
by xoloveJBox
Summary: This is the first time I've done this, so here we go.  Lana feels alone,now that Jadie,her kind of sister, is adopted.Its up to the rest of team Gibbs to make her feel like a part of a family,but can they all pull through together when one of them is hurt
1. Prologue

**_A/N Ok, so I know this on it's own doesn't make an awful lot of sense. It's just a bit of randomness really :) I do have a little bit more of this story,and I know what I would like to happen, but I'm not sure whether to continue or not, which is where you guys come in. If I get some reviews of people who are interested, or just have something to add etc, I'll be happy to give it a shot! _**

**_This isn't the first time I've written NCIS stuff, but it's the first time I've posted anything on here, so please be nice (but at the same time, if you think it's the worse arrangement of words you've ever read in your entire lives, please, say so! I won't be offended!) _**

**_Lastly, the only characters that are mine, are Lana and Jadie(though Jadie is only mentioned once, and isn't really that relevent in this part). Lana's really complicated, but if I carry on with it, I'll explain her a lot more. Anything that is familiar, isnt mine (sadly). I'm not making any money or anything from it, it's just a bit of writing that I like to fill my time with :) _**

**_Please read and review! :D _**

**_(I'm not really sure how the whole rating thing works or anything, but there is only one swear word (and, in my opinion, a fairly mild one) and character...injury, I suppose, is the best way to put it!_**

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><p><strong><em><em>**Lana emerged from the elevator, annoyed that she had been called back to the office after an already painfully long day.

"Alright Gibbs, this better be good because I was half way home, and traffic's a bitch at this time of night." she announced as she made her way over to her desk, only to realise that Gibbs wasn't actually there. She sighed irritably and looked at her watch. It was later than usual, and she had promised the help Jadie pack all of her things.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring on her desk, and she picked it up.

"Gomez."

"Just checking." chimed Abby's overly cheerful voice, and before Lana could give any kind of response, she heard the click of the phone as Abby hung up. She slowly wandered around the bullpen, adjusting little things on her desk, just general fidgeting. She looked around when she heard the ding of the elevator, and she saw Gibbs, Tony, Abby, Ziva, Tim, Duckie and Jimmy Palmer leave it.

"What's going on? Have we got a case?" Lana asked, thinking that this was the only reason everyone would be together.

"Nope." Gibbs said, short and simple, as usual.

"Then what are we doing here?"

"We have something for you." Tony told her casually.

"Happy birthday!" Abby exclaimed excitedly, holding out a neatly wrapped box for Lana.

"Abby, it's not my birthday until December, and that's three months away."

"Oh well," Abby shrugged "Open it anyway."

Lana dumped her bag and jacket on the back of her chair and took the gift. She carefully pulled back the clear sticky tape, and folded back the bright paper. Inside was a black, hard bound book with nothing on the front. She held it firmly in her hand, not sure what to expect from it. Lana looked around her at her colleagues, to see if she could work anything out from there expressions.

"Come on, come on, and just look at it." Abby said impatiently, fidgeting like a child on Christmas morning.

"Alright, ok." Lana said, slightly amused at her friends behaviour. She gently opened the first page, and in extravagantly beautiful gold ink, was the word 'Family'. She flicked through the pages, to see the many, many pictures that Abby had taken over her years. One that especially caught Lana's eye was the only one of them all, including Duckie and Palmer, together. Even Gibbs smiled broadly, the image caught and frozen in time.

"Duckie told us what you said this morning about not having a family." Tim told her quietly as she thumbed through the images, smiling at each new one. Gibbs playfully tapped the back of her head, like he would have done to Tony or McGee, but softer.

"What do you think we are Gomez?" Tony asked, jokingly.

Lana was so overwhelmed with emotion, that she wasn't sure how to respond to the enormous amount of love that she felt at that moment, so she simply indicated to the group picture still in front of her.

"I really like this one." she whispered, tears pricking at the back of her eyes.

"So do we. "Abby informed her "So we had it framed for you." Abby pulled out a picture frame from behind her back, which Lana hadn't even noticed.

"Oh you guys..." Lana exclaimed, letting her tears spill now as she threw her arms around Abby's neck and covering her friend's cheeks with kisses, before moving on along the group.

"I love you guys so much, thank you, they're beautiful." Usually, Lana would have been embarrassed to cry in front of her colleagues, but this time was different. She did not worry about hiding them away, because she was glad of the reason they fell, proud in fact.

Lastly, she came to Gibbs. She hugged her boss tightly, feeling closer to the man then she ever had before. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling a little guilty that Lana had felt so alone in the first place.

As the group laughed and talked, Lana still hugging Gibbs, because she wasn't quite ready to let go, they each thought about their plans for the evening. Tony was going to go home, grab a beer from the fridge and watch an old movie. Tim was going to see if. Her could tackle his writers block. Ziva could almost imagine herself sliding into a hot bath with a book.

However, none of them knew that the evening would not go as they planned.

They did not see the dark figure lying on the roof of the opposite building. They did not see his long gun trained through their window. None of them heard the sound of the trigger, but they heard the sound of shattering glass as a bullet travelled through it. They all ducked instinctively at the noise, but it was too late. The damage was done. No one but Gibbs felt Lana's body go stiff, then unnaturally limp in his arms, after the metal sliced through her stomach. Only Gibbs felt the sticky warmness of the blood that immediately seeped through Lana's clothes onto his own. The group screamed and stayed low, but it didn't make any difference. The target was hit. There would be no other shots. The task was complete.

No one noticed the cracked glass of the picture frame, laying broken on the ground during the chaos that followed.


	2. Chapter 1

**_A/N Alrighty, so I decided to carry on with this, mainly because I got mega excited when I got _one_ good comment, which I know is a bit lame, but still..._**

**_I'm going to try and update fairly regularly, but I can't make any promises, because I always have varying amounts of college work to do, but I'll do my best! :)_**

**_Original Characters in this chapter._**

**_Lana_**

**_JJ-Lana's older brother, who is in the army._**

**_Lisa-Lana and JJ's older sister, who got into drugs and other things after being put into care when Lana was six._**

**_Joanie- Explained-in-chapter_**

**_Jadie-Explained in chapter_**

**_Once again, anything you recognise, isnt mine. :( _**

**_Before we go any further, I want to explain a little bit about Lana, because although I have lots of random ideas swimming around my little brain cells, they aren't helpful in reading this, so..._**

**_(PS. I know this isnt going to be very realistic, but I thought that the idea of Lana would make some interesting story lines, and well, hey, it's fiction! I also dont have much knowledge of the american schooling system, but I know you can be put forward a grade or two, but I dont know exactly how this works, so again with the whole its-fiction-so-it-doesnt-really-matter-if-it's-right-or-not-thing.)_**

**_First of all, Lana is sixteen. She graduated high school at the age of 12, and college at 14, before going to the training acadamy for NCIS until just after her 16th birthday. I haven't really decided whether or not Lana had joined the team before Kate was killed, but that doesnt really matter right now. Just so everyone knows, Gibbs was NOT HAPPY about having Lana on the team at first, but she proved to him that she was extremely hard working, talented, intelligent, and that she was just as good as any other agent he has ever worked with. _**

**_I hope that helps everyone to understand Lana a little better :)_**

**_As always, reviews are more than welcome, and ideas/suggestions/critisms are always both welcommed and helpful. I fully believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'll always listen to everyone's and try to take on board what is being said, to hopefully make the story more interesting/well written for people to read._**

**_I'm going to stop waffling on now and just let you read it! :) Please R+R!_**

**_Thanks :D_**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter One.<strong>_

_2 days earlier._

At the ding of the elevator, Lana stomped out angrily. She stormed over to her desk, dumped her bag on the floor heavily, and threw herself into her chair.

"You look happy Squirt." Tony observed from his own desk, while Tim and Ziva pretended to be working.

"Shut up DiNozzo." Lana replied darkly, glaring at him from under her eyebrows.

"What's the matter with you anyway?" McGee asked, trying to sound casual, but he couldn't keep the curiosity from his voice.

"Nothing." Lana snapped, and Tony scoffed.

"Yeah, right, I can feel how angry you are _from here._"

"Can I not just be in a bad mood? Does there have to be a reason?" Lana asked, irritably, unintentionally sounding almost accusing towards her colleagues.

"There generally...usually...kind of is a reason Lana." Tim added sheepishly. If he had been wise, he would have kept his mouth closed while Lana was in such a venomous mood.

But he wasn't, so he didn't.

Lana was about to spit an answer at him, but Gibbs entered and interrupted her.

"Do we have a case Boss?" Ziva asked, desperate to escape from the almost suffocating tense atmosphere in the room.

"Nope." Gibbs answered simply, sipping his coffee and sitting at his desk. He too could tell that something was going on with his team, and although he didn't know what it was, he wanted to try and distract them from it.

Tony got up and muttered something about having to talk to Duckie before leaving. After around fifteen minutes or so of the team working on individual tasks, Lana got up from her desk and went over to McGee.

"Tim? Can you do something for me?" She asked quietly, crouching down next to his desk.

"Sure." He replied, a little confused "What is it?"

He watched Lana pull out a folded piece of paper from her back pocket and hand it him.

"I need you to run a background search on these two people, and email me the results."

"I will, but why do I have to do it? Is it some kind of clearance thing?"

"No, no. I just can't do it." She replied simply, hoping that he would not ask any more questions.

"It is legal, right?"

"Of course it is! Would I ask you to do something that was illegal?"

"I guess not; but why are you asking me then?"

Lana rolled her eyes slightly. Did McGee not understand that she didn't want to talk about it? Did he not realise that if she was going to tell him, she would have already?

"Because, if I do it, it's a conflict of interest. If you do it, it's irrelevant, but no one can say anything about it."

"Lana," McGee said seriously, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

No McGee, she thought sarcastically, I just enjoy being annoying and mysterious.

"Can you do it or not McGee?" She asked finally, completely ignoring his question.

"Yes, yeah. I'll do later on. Is that ok, or do you need it now?"

The only reason Tim was agreeing was to try and wheedle the information out of her eventually.

"No, later is fine. Thank you Tim." Lana stood up and kissed the man gently on the cheek. She immediately felt her mood lighten a little, knowing that she was doing something constructive.

"I'm going for coffee guys, anyone else want anything?" Lana announced as she made her way over to the elevator. They all declined, and Lana called the elevator, but nothing happened. She pressed the button again, and got the same result.

"Oh Lana, the elevators out, gotta use the stairs." Tim called to her, so Lana went over to the door that shut off the top of the stairs.

However, as she reached out to pull the handle, the door was quickly pushed open, taking her by surprise, and smacking her hard in the head.

"Oh my God, Lana, I'm so sorry!" Tony exclaimed as he realised what he had done. Lana's irritation immediately spiked again.

"Don't touch me DiNozzo." She told him firmly as he reached out a hand to her forehead, where she could feel a slight trickle of blood through her fingers.

"I'm so sorry." He repeated over and over again. When Lana looked up again, Gibbs, Ziva and Tim had all come over to them, and Gibbs was removing her hand so that he could take a look.

"What the hell were you doing DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked sharply as he tried to work out how deep the slice in Lana's forehead was.

"Sorry Boss." Tony muttered, embarrassed.

"What are you apologizing to me for? I'm not the one with a chunk missing from my head!"

"There isn't a chunk missing from my head Gibbs." Lana said, not wanting so much fuss. "It's fine." She assured them as they looked worriedly at her.

"You need to get yourself down to Duckie, to take a look at it." Gibbs told her, and she shook her head, slightly amused that so much was going into a cut. A _cut, _for goodness sake.

"Seriously, Gibbs I-" Lana started to argue, but Gibbs put up his hand to stop her, looking authoritive at her.

"That's an order, Agent Gomez. Go. Now."

Lana sighed and turned to go down the stairs, sighing.

If there was one thing she hated, it was being told what to do. If it was something to do with the job, she could deal with it, but not when it was a simple judgement call like this. She was almost seventeen, not almost seven. If she had committed a crime, she would be trialled and sentenced as an adult, and yet she was being treated like a child? Where was the sense in that?

By the time Lana had stopped muttering to herself under her breath, she had reached autopsy, and was walking through the automatic door. However, when she looked around, she couldn't see the ME.

"Duckie?" she called to the empty room, surprised. Duckie was _always_ in autopsy, unless, of course, they were on a case.

"Just a minute!" Lana heard the elderly Scotsman yell back, and after a few seconds, she saw Duckie come out of the supply closet at the other end of the room.

"Sorry about that Lana; ran out of gloves." He told her without looking at her. Lana held a piece of tissue that she hadn't even realised was there to her head, and stood silently until Duckie turned around.

"My dear! What happened to you?" The man exclaimed when he finally looked at her.

"Tony hit me in the face with the door." She told him simply, as he took her elbow and led her over to one of the cold, metal tables and told her to sit.

Duckie wet a cloth and dabbed it gently on the cut on Lana's head, while she sat, silent and motionless, feeling sorry for herself but trying to hide it.

She should have known that she couldn't get anything past Duckie.

"So, young lady, are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"I told you Duck" Lana replied quietly "I got smacked in the head with a door."

"I was actually referring to what is really bothering you, because it's clearly more than walking into a door. Apparently, and I quote, 'everything's falling to crap'." Duckie said, referring to one of the many things she had muttered to herself on the way down from the bullpen to see him.

"You heard that, huh?" she joked weakly.

"Oh yes. I think most of the city did."

Lana took a deep breath, and decided she might as well get it over with. She knew she wouldn't be able to hide it from Duckie anymore, so what was the point in trying?

"Jadie's being adopted." She said finally, and almost immediately, she felt a little better.

But only a little.

Jadie was a bubbly, charismatic little five year old who shared a room with Lana at the orphanage that they lived in. Jadie and Lana were very close, like sisters. In fact, even Joanie, the social worker who also lived in the orphanage, would say that Lana had pretty much raised Jadie, even though she had only been twelve when Jadie had first come along. Long ago the two had made a plan, that when Lana was twenty, she was going to adopt Jadie, and they could start their own family. Just the two of them. They had stayed up many a night, talking about all the things they would do together, but now Lana could feel all of these plans slipping away from her grasp.

"Ah," Duckie sighed "I see. And I guess you're not too happy about that?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just..._I _was going to adopt her Duckie. I just needed a few more years. We were going to do all these things together, and now she's going off to live with a family in Virginia."

"But I suspect this is not all." Duckie continued "Correct me if I am wrong, my dear, but do I detect a hint of jealousy?"

Lana went to argue, but she knew that she couldn't hide anything from Duckie, but it didn't stop her from trying to defer from the conversation that Duckie was clearly angling towards.

"Are you psychoanalysing me, Doctor Mallard?"

"Maybe," he smiled mischievously "but maybe I'm just being a friend."

"You are a good friend, Duckie" She told the older man compassionately, sincerely meaning it.

"Then why don't you tell me what's really on your mind, hmm?"

"I suppose I'm just more aware of the fact that she's moving on with her life, and she doesn't need me anymore. She's getting a family, and I guess I'm just scared that I'm not going to get that." Lana found that once she started, the words flowed easily from her mouth, and she felt like there was nothing that she couldn't tell Duckie. "I mean, I know I have my brother and sister, but JJ would rather get shot at in a far away country then be here with me, and we don't have long enough to get me started on Lisa."

"You never know Lana. The right family for you might be just around the corner." Duckie tried comfortingly, but Lana simply laughed and smiled half-heartedly.

"Who's going to want me, Duck? I'm too old, for starters. When people adopt, they want little kids who they can raise and teach, and who eventually won't remember a different way of life. And let's face it; I'm a pain in the ass! I argue, I complain, I'm way too opinionated for my own good, and I'm a little bit anti-social. And who the hell wants a daughter who's allowed to carry a gun? That's just way too complicated for most people to handle."

"Maybe, if that's too complicated," Duckie said as he went over to his drawers, searching for a band-aid. "Then you're just too good for most people to handle."

"Yeah right." Lana scoffed.

"I'm serious, Lana, now hold still." The doctor replied, reaching up to attach the band-aid to her head.

"Duckie," she said, moving slightly out of his reach "I'm not walking around with a band-aid on my head all day; I'll look like an idiot."

"Well, I could suggest a trip to Bethesda, but that would probably include a very long time waiting, and mandatory medical sick days..." Duckie said, knowing that Lana would not be happy with that idea. She rolled her eyes, seeing clearly what he was trying to do. However, Lana knew perfectly well that the man would keep his word if she didn't do as she was told, and she didn't really fancy going to the hospital for a _cut._ She didn't even need stitches, for goodness sake.

"Alright, you win Doc." She sighed and leaned her head forwards a little, to make it easier.

"There you are, my dear, as good as new." He replied.

"Thanks for patching me up Doc. You're a good listen." Lana said as she jumped from the table. Duckie watched Lana leave the autopsy room, and waved when she turned back before disappearing up the stairs. He marvelled at how much she had grown since the first time he met her, and not just physically. Lana was no longer the child he had once known, but a young woman who could quite easily hold her own. But it had upset him to hear her talking the way she had. It had made her seem young and vulnerable, and it wasn't something he was used to from Lana. It seemed to him that she had ignored all of her best qualities- like her immeasurable kindness, her bravery, and the way she could so easily defend what was close to her, no matter the cost- and could only see her flaws.

"If only you knew how wrong you were." He muttered sadly about the whole conversation.


	3. Chapter 2

**_A/N Howdy again :D _**

**_OK, so this is where it kind of starts to pick up, but I'm not really sure when I'll have chance to upload again, but I'll try my best to do it fairly swiftly._**

**_None of the characters you know and love are mine, which saddens me greatly, but oh well, life goes on... _**

**_Only Lana is mine, so I suppose that's something..._**

**_As always, opinions/suggestions are always hugely welcomed, so please R+R! _**

**_Thanks again,_**

**_xoloveJBox_**

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><p>Chapter Two.<p>

"Gear up." Gibbs barked as he walked into the bull pen the next morning.

"We've got a case?" Tony asked, slightly disbelieving.

"Why else would I tell you to gear up, DiNozzo?"

"Right. Sorry Boss."

The team were ready to go in record time, all of them anxious to do _something._ They hadn't been called out for a few days, and they were itching to get back to work.

Ziva drove the van; something that no one but Gibbs ever enjoyed. Tim and Lana ended up in the back, as always, and they were tossed around like a ball inside one of the pinball machines in an arcade.

When they finally arrived at the scene, the two of them were relieved, and they realised that Ziva's driving was something that you couldn't get over very quickly. They climbed out of the back, feeling kind of nauseous, but getting straight on with the job at hand, because they were so used to it.

As the team extracted their things from the van, they heard the ME's truck before they could see it. They all heard quite clearly that Duckie was yelling at Palmer. Again.

"...and I told you to turn right!"

"But Doctor Mallard, you were holding the map upside down."

"That's the way you handed it to me!" Duckie said as he slammed the van door and turned to Gibbs. "Sorry about the delay Jethro, but Mr Palmer got us lost, again."

"_You _were navigating!" Jimmy argued defensively.

"_You _shouldn't have let me!" Was Duckie's only response before storming off after Gibbs and the rest of the team towards the body.

The young Petty Officer was sat against one of the many trees in the wooded area that they found themselves in. If it had not been for the two deep red stains on his chest, they might have mistaken him for sleeping. Gibbs guesses that he was still a marine; he still had the typical buzz cut and well-formed muscles that gave it away.

No one was allowed to touch the body until Duckie was finished. Only a fool would risk it. Even Tony wasn't stupid enough anymore so they snapped on gloves, and began canvassing the area. Lana stayed behind to inspect the area directly around the body, Ziva headed off to speak to the local LEO's, while Tony and Tim went different directions, bagging, tagging, and photographing everything that looked like it shouldn't be there.

"Well," Duckie sighed, kneeling next to the body "I won't be able to determine cause of death until we've performed the autopsy."

"I think the two bullet holes in his chest were pretty detrimental to his health Duck." Lana replied as she snapped pictures.

"Rule number eight Gomez." Gibbs said simply.

"'Never assume anything.' I know, I know. Hey- what's that?" Lana questioned, a dark mark on victims arm catching her eye.

"Oh crap." Gibbs cursed quietly as Duckie turned the man's wrist slightly to expose the mark.

"The guy's got gang tats." Lana observed.

"Cases involving gangs are never easy." Gibbs said, as close to complaining as Lana had ever heard from him.

"But they're also never boring, Boss." She tried, grinning widely, earning herself a 'Gibbs stare'.

"Got a gun Boss!" Tim hollered, holding up a .22.

"Yes, that corresponds with these wounds." Duckie said "Point blank range. Very close."

Gibbs sighed and stood up. He could already tell it was just the beginning of a terrible morning. No-scratch that- a terrible _day._

"Alright Mr Palmer, let's take him back to the yard." Gibbs heard Duckie say as he wandered over to Ziva, just as she finished speaking to the local officers.

"Local LEO's weren't too helpful." Ziva informed him dejectedly "They received an anonymous tip-off around seven this morning, came to check it out, saw his dog tags and called us."

"Dog tags?" Gibbs asked before turning back to Duckie and yelling. "Hey Duck, did you see any dog tags on the body?"

"Err, no. No dog tags Jethro." The ME called back.

"Ok." Gibbs said to Ziva "Either the officer made it up, or someone managed to come back and take the tags before we got here."

"What motive would the officer have for taking the tags?"

"No idea. Take his name and run a search when we get back. Then go help the others, in case they're around here somewhere."  
>"Yes Gibbs."<p>

Two hours later, when the team were all back at the Navy yard; Ziva was just finishing a phone call to the first responding officer.

"...ok, thank you...yes...bye. Ok," she said after she hung up, quickly tapping away on the keys of her computer. "Officer Johnson did not seem surprised when I questioned him about the validity of his testimony. Apparently, it is not the first time, so he had gotten into the habit of taking photographs as soon as he arrives on scene. He sent me this-." She explained, pulling up a photograph from her email onto the screen. The image quite clearly showed the metal tags around the man's neck, and they could see the victim's name: Dennis Smithson.

"McGee, run that name." Gibbs ordered, feeling better now that he had something to do.

"On it Boss."

As Tim worked, the ding of the elevator made them all look around. They were surprised when Abby walked over, because she rarely came up to the bull pen. She usually called, and they went down to her.

Right away the team could see that she was not her usual self. She was quiet and reserved, seeming like she was nervous about being there.

"Abbs, is something wrong?" Gibbs asked, instantly going into protective mode, as he usually did when Abby was not herself.

"I'm not sure." She answered, not being able to think of another way to say it.

"Ok, tell me what you've got."

"I was processing the gun that Tim found at the scene, and I found fingerprints all over it. Except, they _all _belonged to the same person, and I don't think you're going to like it Gibbs." It was rare that something was so important that Abby came up to them, so they all immediately went onto high-alert. Abby took the remote for the plasma screen, and clicked onto the screen from her lab, showing the results of the AFIS search on the prints.

After reading the name, Gibbs could see straight away why Abby had been so...unabby-ish about coming to see him. The name made his blood go ice cold and fiery hot at the same time.

Jonathon Laney.

Laney was the prime suspect in a case they had been issued with a few months before, where a petty officer had been killed outside of his home while being on leave. His dog tags had been taken, and the weapon was left at the scene. The weapon in that case had also been a .22. Several times, they had almost come within reaching distance of Laney and his gang, but right at the last minute, they had always been one step behind the man. It had been infuriating for weeks, but then, as the leads thinned out, and more cases came in, they were forced to abandon Laney and the case, but Gibbs had not forgotten. Whenever he had a spare few minutes, he would go over the case file, searching for something they had missed, but nothing had come up.

Until now. Laney was back.


	4. Chapter 3

_**A/N I feel like I'm on a roll...four chapters in three days... go me. **_

_**This is an uber short chapter, and I'll admit, it's existance is due to the fact that I uploaded the last chapter without adding this part on.**_

_**Anything that is familiar to you isnt mine, which upsets me greatly because frankly, the mind behing NCIS must be a genious one. However, Lana is mine and I feel like I should point that out, just so that I dont feel completely unoriginal when I write this story. **_

_**Again, please R+R because I'll always read them and try to take on board what is said, and hopefully use the comments to make the story better, and more interesting to read :D**_

_**Thanks again,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

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><p><em><em>Chapter Three.

"I want this guy." Gibbs growled as he paced the bull pen anxiously.

"We know you Gibbs." Lana said, rubbing her face with her hands.

"You've said it eighteen times in the last hour." Tony added under his breath.

Abby had gone back down to her lab, after seeing the effects her information had on her boss. The team had spent the following ninety minutes trying to find a link between Laney's two victims.

"Ok," Lana said, getting up and going over to the plasma screen with the remote, growing annoyed with the lack of leads. "So, what do we actually know for sure?"

Silence was the only response she got from her colleagues, so she carried on.

"The first victim, Derek Matthews, was fifty years old, married, four children. Smithson was twenty-three years old, not married, with no children. Matthews was retired, but Smithson was still a marine. There's no overlapping time for when they served, and there's no common..._anything _in their records. The only thing these men shared was the guy who killed them."

"That sounds correct." Ziva sighed restlessly.

The silence that followed was abruptly interrupted by the shrill shriek of Tim's phone.

"McGee...yes...that's right...Really? Where?...OK, got it. Thank you." He hung up the phone, after scribbling on a piece of paper, looking considerably less dejected than he had done.

"What was that McGee?" Tony asked, hoping at least for something that would get him out of the office.

"The hotline that we set the _first _time we were after Laney," he told them excitedly "it just got a hit. We've got him Boss."


	5. Chapter 4

**_A/N Hello there again. How is everyone?_**

**_I really enjoyed writing this chapter, because it shows so many different sides to Lana, and I think the way other people react to those sides is quite interesting too, hence the fact that it took so dang long to write..._**

**_Anyway, as always, the only character that is mine is Lana, everyone else is just borrowed for a little while :D _**

**_Please, please, please, please, PLEASE will someone leave me a comment, because it's making me go out of my mind not knowing whether people are actually enjoying this (or, equally, think it's the biggest pile of rubbish on the internet...) I will always read every single comment, and for as many as possible, I'll reply. Opinions are always more than welcome, and everyone is more than entitled to their own, I dont mind! _**

**_Ok, well, I guess that's it. I'm hoping to finish another chapter by Sunday night, but I'm not making any promises. However, I break up from college for a week on friday, so I should be able to write and post at least two chapters in that week (fingers crossed!)_**

**_Thanks again,_**

**_xoloveJBox_**

* * *

><p>Chapter Four.<p>

Gibbs hated gangs. Always had, always would. Cases with gangs always just seemed so much more challenging, and while this part didn't bother Gibbs, they also never ended very well. Either they never got enough evidence to get a conviction, or whoever they had spoken to ended up killed for speaking to cops, no matter how involuntary it had been.

Usually, it would not have been Gibbs and his team that investigated anonymous tip-offs, but they could not pass up the opportunity to arrest Laney. It had taken them months to find themselves where they were on that cold September morning. There was a light breeze, but it was enough to make Ziva and Lana glad that they had tied their long hair away from their faces. The sky was growing darker with clouds, fat with rain, looming overhead, threatening to dump their heavy loads on the innocent victims on the ground.

The team found themselves outside of an abandoned warehouse, with shattered windows and a peeling, graphitised exterior, thanks to the tip-off.

Although they couldn't find a link between Laney, his two victims, or the location of the warehouse, Gibbs was not going to take the chance of not investigating it.

Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, Tim and Lana prepared to go inside the building, and as Lana reached inside the trunk for a bullet proof vest, she realised there were none left.

"DiNozzo!" She hissed angrily "You didn't put enough vests in the car."

"Oh, sorry Gomez." He replied, though Lana was not convinced of the sincerity of his apology.

"Yeah, well, if I get shot because of you, there's going to be trouble." Lana warned as she continued to ensure her gun was sufficiently loaded.

"You won't get shot." Gibbs told her seriously.

"Let's hope not because-" Lana started, though Gibbs interrupted her before she could finish.

"You won't get shot, because you're staying out here."

"What? I'm not staying out here Gibbs. We've been after this guy for months, and I am not missing taking his ass down." Lana answered defiantly.

"That's an order, Agent Gomez. Get back in the car." Gibbs demanded, glaring at her baitingly. Lana tried to mimic his look, but she eventually wavered.

"Fine." She declared sulkily. "But I'm totally driving on the way back."  
>"That's cool. Lana's the only one who drives like a normal person." Tim said, trying to make the situation slightly less frustrating for Lana.<p>

"Yeah, right." Tony scoffed loudly "Normal like my grandma."

"Shut up DiNozzo." Lana snapped as she climbed into the driver's seat, even if it was only to assert the little authority she knew she had in this situation, as everyone else finished gearing up.

Just before going into the warehouse, Gibbs leaned into the open window of Lana's side of the car.

"Stay. Here." He ordered firmly, and she simply nodded, not wanting to give any other response, because she wasn't too happy about having to stay behind. Lana was never happy unless she was in the middle of the action, because it was what she loved. Being forced to stay behind was just an annoying inconvenience.

At Gibbs' instruction, the remaining three agents immediately went into work mode, moving quickly and silently towards the warehouse. Lana watched, almost longingly, as they crashed their way into the derelict building, using the element of surprise to their advantage.

The interior was dark and musty, the air almost suffocating. The four of them made their way noiselessly across the ground floor, their guns drawn protectively, looking around for threats.

Just as Gibbs was about to call the whole thing off- there was clearly no one there- McGee froze, feeling the icy cold barrel of a gun against the back of his head.

"Gibbs." He said quietly, shakily, and his voice echoed and resounded through the large building.

Gibbs turned to face his agent, and through the dim light of the high but broken windows, he saw the silhouette of a man behind Tim, and he mentally cursed himself. He should have bought back-up. He should have bought more agents. He should have bought bigger guns. He should have, he should have, he should have...

"Drop your weapons." The man's deep, rough voice demanded. Without any sound, the lights came on, and at least ten other men were suddenly visible, all holding unarguably larger guns than Gibbs and his team possessed, and they knew they were in trouble.

Gibbs' eyes quickly fluttered to Tony and Ziva, who were glancing at him nervously, asking with their eyes what they were supposed to do.

But what _was_ he supposed to do? By ignoring the demands, he was risking Tim's life, but by complying, he could be risking them all.

He sighed, defeated, and nodded to his agents, giving them permission to throw away their guns. Almost simultaneously, Gibbs, Tony and Ziva crouched down carefully, put their guns on the ground and stood, their hands raised. Another man kicked McGee's gun out of his hand, sending it flying across the room.

"Who are you?" The man holding McGee asked, a subtle Spanish accent only just audible.

"NCIS" Gibbs replied, not seeing any point in lying.

"And what does NCIS want here?" The man questioned.

"We're looking for Jonathon Laney. Do you know him?"

The man smiled, almost knowingly. "Yes, I know him. He's my younger brother."

"Do you know where he is?"  
>"No, but I'd like to." The man told them simply.<p>

"Well, why don't you let go of my agent, and we'll find him together?"

The man laughed, cold and cruel "I don't think so."

Tim's face was pale and sweaty, his body rigid with fear. Gibbs looked around, as much as he dared, and could see no options. At all. He always knew that he and his team was fairly lucky, compared to other teams, but maybe now was the time for that luck to run out...

Suddenly, and without warning, a shot rang out, and everyone looked around wildly, confused. Another shot, closely followed by a third, and two of the Big-Gunned men fell to the floor, writhing in pain, one held his shoulder, and the other holding his calf.

"Put your guns down, or I'll carry on, and this time: I'm aiming for your heads." Came a voice from somewhere on the platforms above, and Gibbs was shocked to realise it was Lana.

The muscles in the man's jaw clenched, and he moved his head slightly to the man next to him, and Gibbs knew what he was planning. He was going to ambush them, shoot them all down while he could, cut his losses and go. But Lana saw all this too, and reacted accordingly.

She sent another shot through the air, soaring into the man closest to McGee and his captor, sending him to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Go on, I dare you." She said tauntingly "But I must warn you: I have incredible aim."

There were only five men left standing, outside of Gibbs' agents. Surprisingly, the leader who held Tim nodded to the others, and they began to lower their guns, while Laney's brother pushed Tim forwards roughly. Tony and Gibbs both reached out to drag him towards them, pulling them protectively behind them.

Without warning, the other men raised their guns again, acting quickly, about to shoot. However, Lana was quicker, and she let out one, two, three, four, five bullets. Except this time, none were hit in the arm or the leg. Each bullet came into contact with a head, or a chest. Kill shots.

The warehouse was silent, except for the occasional low groan from one of the surviving men. They were quickly cuffed by Ziva and Tony, with Lana finally emerging from her hiding spot under some large sheets of dark tarpaulin. As she stepped lightly down the stairs to the ground level, she checked her magazine. Empty.

Oh well, she thought, the job was done anyway.

When she approached, Lana rubbed her hand along Tim's shaking arm comfortingly.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Gibbs demanded angrily when he had gotten over the initial shock of them all being still alive.

"What do you mean?" She asked nonchalantly as Gibbs took her arm and dragged her away.

"You know full well what I mean." He hissed "We had it covered."

"It looked like it." Lana replied sarcastically, growing annoyed at being treated like _she _was in the wrong. "That would have been an awkward conversation with Tim's sister, wouldn't it? 'Oh, hi Sarah, Tim was shot today. Sorry about that, but _we had it covered._'"

"_You _could have been shot." Gibbs told her, changing topic slightly because he knew she had a point.

"Yeah, well," Lana replied, smiling mischievously "I wasn't."


	6. Chapter 5

**_A/N Hey there again..._**

**_I know I took a little longer on this chapter, but I've had soooo many other things to do, and I didnt want to ruin it by rushing it :) _**

**_This chapter is pretty much the prologue bit, with a few important changes, and also, just some changes to things that didnt really make sense the first time when I re-read it, so yeah..._**

**_Again, I own nothing but Lana, and I'm not making any kind of profit from this story (though that would be great right about now...lol)_**

**_Please R+R, because I would love to hear people's views on this story, even if you think it's a load of rubbish :)_**

**_I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I'll try to update again soon!_**

* * *

><p>Chapter Five.<p>

Lana was annoyed.

No, actually, she was more than annoyed, she was bordering on vexed. And Lana never usually allowed herself to get vexed. She had spent the day at her desk, not allowed to leave, as punishment for disobeying a direct order.

She was sure that Gibbs was forgetting what might have happened if she had not done what did. Abby had already freaked out when she found out about the whole event, and Lana didn't even want to know what her friend's reaction would have been, if Lana had returned alone, because the others had got shot while she stayed in the car.

It was scary to think about.

Lana had watched Gibbs, Tim, Ziva and Tony go in and out of the bullpen all day, questioning various people, following different leads that the answers bought up. They all, except for Gibbs, had thrown her pitying looks as they passed. That had angered her more, knowing that her colleagues, and friends, felt sorry for her. It was not a feeling she was used to, and it certainly was not something she enjoyed. It had really put the icing on the cake when they had geared up in the bullpen, ready to go out on a bust that Gibbs deemed dangerous enough to need bullet proof vests. They had gone out, hyped up and expecting a long night and it was already later than usual. Lana decided then that she would go home, because, what use was she there? She left a note for Gibbs and gathered her things before climbing into the elevator, hoping that tomorrow; things would be back to normal.

Lana emerged from the elevator, annoyed that she had been called back to the office after an already painfully long day.

"Alright Gibbs, this better be good because I was half way home, and traffic's a bitch at this time of night." she announced as she made her way over to her desk, only to realise that Gibbs wasn't actually there. She sighed irritably and looked at her watch. It was later than usual, and she had promised the help Jadie pack all of her things.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring on her desk, and she picked it up.

"Gomez."

"Just checking." chimed Abby's overly cheerful voice, and before Lana could give any kind of response, she heard the click of the phone as Abby hung up. She slowly wandered around the bullpen, adjusting little things on her desk, just general fidgeting. She looked around when she heard the ding of the elevator, and she saw Gibbs, Tony, Abby, Ziva, Tim, Duckie and Jimmy Palmer leave it.

"What's going on? Have we got a case?" Lana asked, thinking that this was the only reason everyone would be together.

"Nope." Gibbs said, short and simple, as usual.

"Then what are we doing here?"

"We have something for you." Tony told her casually.

"Happy birthday!" Abby exclaimed excitedly, holding out a neatly wrapped box for Lana.

"Abby, it's not my birthday until December, and that's three months away."

"Oh well," Abby shrugged "Open it anyway."

Lana dumped her bag and jacket on the back of her chair and took the gift. She carefully pulled back the clear sticky tape, and folded back the bright paper. Inside was a black, hard bound book with nothing on the front. She held it firmly in her hand, not sure wjat to expect from it. Lana looked around her at her colleagues, to see if she could work anything out from there expressions.

"Come on, come on, just look at it." Abby said impatiently, fidgeting like a child on Christmas morning.

"Alright, ok." Lana said, slightly amused at her friends behaviour. She gently opened the first page, and in extravagantly beautiful gold ink, was the word 'Family'. She flicked through the pages, to see the many, many pictures that Abby had taken over her years. One that especially caught Lana's eye was the only one of them all, including Duckie and Palmer, together. Even Gibbs smiled broadly, the image caught and frozen in time.

"Duckie told us what you said this morning about not having a family." Tim told her quietly as she thumbed through the images, smiling at each new one. Gibbs playfully tapped the back of her head, like he would have done to Tony or McGee, but softer.

"What do you think we are Gomez?" Tony asked, jokingly.

Lana was so overwhelmed with emotion, that she wasn't sure how to respond to the enormous amount of love that she felt at that moment, so she simply indicated to the group picture still in front of her.

"I really like this one." she whispered, tears pricking at the back of her eyes.

"So do we."Abby informed her "So we had it framed for you." Abby pulled out a picture frame from behind her back, which Lana hadn't even noticed.

"Oh you guys..." Lana exclaimed, letting her tears spill now as she threw her arms around Abby's neck and covering her friend's cheeks with kisses, before moving on along the group.

"I love you guys so much, thank you, they're beautiful." Usually, Lana would have been embarrassed to cry in front of her colleagues, but this time was different. She did not worry about hiding them away, because she was glad of the reason they fell, proud in fact.

Lastly, she came to Gibbs. She hugged her boss tightly, feeling closer to the man then she ever had before. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling a little guilty that Lana had felt so alone in the first place. Lana could feel the hard material of Gibbs' bullet proof vest under his jacket, presuming that he hadn't had chance to take it off yet.

As the group laughed and talked, Lana still hugging Gibbs, because she wasn't quite ready to let go, they each thought about their plans for the evening. Tony was going to go home, grab a beer from the fridge and watch an old movie. Tim was going to see if he could tackle his writers block. Ziva could almost imagine herself sliding into a hot bath with a book.

However, none of them knew that the evening would not go as they planned.

They did not see the dark figure lying on the roof of the opposite building. They did not see his long gun trained through their window. None of them heard the sound of the trigger, but they heard the sound of shattering glass as a bullet travelled through it. They all ducked instinctively at the noise, but it was too late. The damage was done. No one but Gibbs felt Lana's body go stiff, then unnaturally limp in his arms, after the metal sliced through her back and straight through her stomach. Only Gibbs felt the sticky warmness of the blood that immediately seeped through Lana's clothes onto his own. He felt the bullet come through her body and hit his vest, and while it came a little sharp, it didn't actually hurt. The group screamed and stayed low, but it didn't make any difference. The target was hit. There would be no other shots. The task was complete.

No one noticed the cracked glass of the picture frame, lying broken on the ground during the chaos that followed.


	7. Chapter 6

**_A/N OK, so this is only a short chapter, and my aim in it was to show different sides to Gibbs and Lana, so I hope I did that :)_**

**_Once again, I own no characters but Lana, so yeah..._**

**_I really hope that people enjoy this chapter and I'm in the process of writing the next one. Originally, this wasnt a seperate chapter, but I thought that this bit was good on its own so I decided to make it into an extra chapter :D _**

**_Please R+R because I would love to hear people's opinions. _**

**_Thanks again_**

**_xoloveJBox_**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Six.<strong>_

"_Tony! Get down!" Gibbs yelled, still holding Lana in his arms as he quickly, but semi-gently lowered her to the ground._

"_Gibbs," Lana breathed, somewhat panicked, and very much in pain._

"_I know, I know, shhhhh, its gunna be ok." Gibbs whispered, almost unheard in the ensuing chaos around them, using blood smeared fingers to push Lana's hair from her face._

Gibbs sat at his desk, thinking, staring into nothing. If he allowed himself to, he could still feel the blood on his hands, the fear in her voice and the pain in her eyes. He looked over to the window, still smashed with a plank of wood nailed feebly across it, letting a cold October breeze into the office. Almost all of the windows in the building had bullet proof windows. Why not theirs? That small detail could have, and still might have, cost Lana her life.

"Get Abby and Palmer up here." Gibbs barked, suddenly slicing through the silence that had fallen over him and his remaining team members. Tony immediately snatched up his phone, grateful for momentarily having something other than Lana to think about. He knew that Duckie was with her, but that didn't mean he was happy that Gibbs had ordered them all to stay at the navy yard. Gibbs had said that they were going to work on finding out who had shot Lana, but so far, all they had done for the ten hours since it had happened, was sit in silence and drink coffee, alone with their own thoughts.

"_Duckie! I need your help over here!" Gibbs screamed, trying to staunch the bleeding. But the shot had been a through-and-through, so there were two wounds. How was he supposed to apply pressure to them both sufficiently? _

"_Gibbs, we have to move her away from the window." Tony announced "There could be more shots."_

"_There aren't. It's been too long." Gibbs replied simply without looking away from Lana, as he did everything Duckie was telling him to. Gibbs had enough experience to know that if there was going to more shots, there would have been already. He was fairly certain that they were safe, but that didn't mean he was going to knowingly put everyone else at risk._

"_Tony, go and wait for the EMTs" He ordered. McGee and Palmer had gone down to the autopsy lab for medical supplies. They had limited resources, since pretty much everyone who went into the autopsy lab was already dead, but they would have enough to maybe keep Lana alive until the paramedics arrived. Ziva had gone to make sure no one else in the building had been hurt, and Abby sat whimpering under the window, out of visible view and unsure what exactly she was supposed to do._

Only moments later, the elevator dinged and Abby and Palmer emerged. Abby ran over to them frantically.

"What's going on? Is everything ok? Did something happen with Lana?" She asked quickly, not taking a breath in between questions, and they only just understood what she was saying.

"Abs, Abs, Abs," Gibbs called over her, trying to calm her down enough to listen "Slow down, I just want to do a reconstruction, that's all."

Abby breathed a large sigh of relief before picking up again.

"Well, have you heard anything from Duckie?"

"Not since you asked ten minutes ago."

"_Gibbs...I...can't...breathe." Lana panted as her body trembled and her face drained of blood. _

"_Gibbs, I think the bullet has punctured her lung." Duckie told him seriously._

"_Don't you have any oxygen masks downstairs?" Gibbs asked, growing desperate as he watched his agent getting worse with every second that passed._

"_What use do we have for oxygen in autopsy? They're usually already dead Jethro."The ME hissed, also feeling the pressure of Lana's extensive injuries. _

"_Listen to me, Agent Gomez" Gibbs said softly to Lana, "You don't have permission to die, got it?" _

_Silence was his only response from the young girl._

"_Got it?" he repeated strongly._

"_Yes...Boss."_

"_Good girl."_

_Tim and Jimmy returned from the autopsy lab, arms full with bandages, because there really wasn't anything else there that would be useful. Gibbs and Duckie snatched them from the other men and began distributing them where necessary._

"_Tim," Gibbs hissed "Take Abby."_

"_Take her where?"_

"_Anywhere!" _

"_Boss, the EMTs are here." Tony called from near the elevator and they rushed over. Gibbs and Duckie moved out of their way, but Lana grabbed Gibbs' hand before he had chance to move very far._

"_Gibbs...don't make...me leave..." she pleaded._

"_Lana I...I don't know what you mean." Gibbs told her, but she carried on as if she hadn't heard._

"_I love...it here...too much...please...please don't...make...me go."_

"_I won't, I promise. You're not going anywhere."_

_As Lana squeezed his hand for a final time, finally succumbing to unconsciousness, Gibbs realised that she wasn't talking about leaving NCIS, like he had originally thought._

_She was begging him not to let her die. _

_And he sure as hell intended to keep that promise._


	8. Chapter 7

_**A/N Hey guys! **_

_**Before I say anything else, I want to point out that in the last chapter, the writing in italics are Gibbs' memories, just in case people didnt get that. :)**_

**_The only characters that are mine are Lana and Jonathon Laney. Everyone else is simply borrowed for a little while. _**

**_OK, I'm going to shut up now and just let you get on with it, so, yeah :D _**

**_Again, please R+R, because I'd love to hear from you all x_**

_**Chapter Seven.**_

"Err Boss," Tony said, a little confused. "I don't think this is going to work."

"As much as I hate to say it; I agree with Tony" McGee added "How are we supposed to do an accurate reconstruction when not everyone's here?"

"Damn it Tim, we're just going to have to make do, aren't we?" Gibbs snapped. "Somebody shot Lana, and we have _nothing _to help us find out who did it." The rest of them fell silent; letting their minds wonder to their perception of what had happened to their friend.

"Ok, "Abby said, finally being the first to speak, taking a deep breath and looking determined "Let's do this."

They spent the next hour going over, minute by minute, the events of the night before. Ziva stepped in to be Lana, since they were close to the same height and size.

"...and then Lana was hugging Gibbs." Jimmy finished, having spent the entire evening at the edge of the group, he had seen it all better than the rest of them.

"Ok, Ziva, come here." Gibbs said, beaconing her over to him and wrapping his arms around his only other female agent. McGee had fetched a light beam torch that they used to work out bullet trajectories, and he then attached it to the back of Ziva's jacket, at approximately the point where Lana had been shot. He switched it on slowly, and they all watched as a single red beam protruded from the end, showing them the only place they shooter could have been. They followed the beam with their eyes, with Ziva and Gibbs being careful not to move and disturbed its route. From the shattered window, they could see the only building with a rooftop that was low enough to get the bullet into their bullpen. None of them knew exactly what the building was used for, but then, did it really matter?

Gibbs sent Abby and Tony over to the building, to see if they could recover any evidence from the rooftop. The only people who remained in the bullpen were Gibbs, Ziva, Tim and Palmer.

"Ok," Tim said "we know the where, but we still don't know who or why."

"How do we even know that Lana was the target?" Palmer questioned out loud.

"If Lana hadn't have been the target, there would have been more shots until the real target was hit. Lana would have just been collateral damage." Gibbs replied. He had enough experience as a sniper to know that. It was really the only thing he was actually certain of at that moment, and that didn't sit well with him.

"And besides," Tim chimed in "the shooter had more than plenty of opportunities to get another one of us. We were moving in and out in front of the window the whole time. Whoever it was waited for Lana to be in their line of fire."

The remaining member of the team stood in silence then, each of them trying to make sense of what had happened, to arrange the events in some way for them to become logical or even better, to make them seem less real so they look at the whole thing hypothetically. In a way, it would have been better for the whole team if it had happened to someone they didn't know. Not only for the fact that Lana would not be hurt, but if they had not know the victim personally, it would have been easier for them all to look at the little evidence they actually had objectively.

"And what about Agent Gibbs?" Asked Palmer." If he hadn't have been wearing his vest still, the bullet would have hit him too."

"Either the shooter underestimated the power of his gun, or he hadn't counted on Gibbs still wearing the vest." Added Ziva, getting more and more questions forming in her mind, instead of answers.

For at least another twenty minutes, they threw around other ideas and theories, but still nothing seemed right. They were grateful for the return of Tony and Abby, and the distraction they provided by bringing evidence with them.

Tony emerged from the elevator alone and came straight over to them.

"Where's Abby?" Gibbs asked, slightly confused. Abby had been hovering around them for most of the day, waiting for news on Lana, and had only gone back to her lab when Gibbs had sent her down there for one thing or another.

"We found a gun on the rooftop, with fingerprints all over it." Tony told them, sounding almost excited at the breakthrough. "Abby's gone to run the prints."

While they waited for news from Abby, they filled Tony in on their theories about who was the intended target.

"Well, who would want to kill Lana? I mean, seriously? She's the nicest kid alive." He explored.

"I think I know the answer." Came Abby's voice quietly from behind them. "I got the prints on the gun back."

"That was fast." Tim observed, though silently noting the sombre look on her face.

"What is it Abbs?" Gibbs asked, also seeing the expression on his friends face.

Without saying anything else, Abby took the remote for the plasma, and clicked onto the screen from her lab.

"It was him." She murmured.

The screen was suddenly filled with a dishearteningly familiar face, that all of them would have preferred not to have seen, even if, after seeing it, it all made sense.

Jonathon Laney.

Gibbs was about to start a long stream of harsh, imaginative expletives, when his phone began to ring on his desk, which he snatched up.

"Gibbs," he barked impatiently.

"Jethro_" _Duckie greeted, making Gibbs immediately on edge. Everyone else in the bullpen picked up on it, and were completely silent, waiting and praying, hopefully, for good news. "Our young friend is awake."

Gibbs let out a mental sigh of relief before he finally spoke.

"Good, because I have to talk to her."


	9. Chapter 8

_**A/N Phew! I think this is the second, or maybe third chapter I've written and posted today? I'm on a role! **_

_**OK, so this chapter is mega long compared to some of the others, but I really hope it's worth it, because I was getting excited just writing. However, I may be slightly biased because it's my story lol **_

_**Anywho, I'm not going to babble too much, because it's like, twenty past one in the morning, and I'm really tired :D **_

_**Again, if you've seen the characters in the programme, then they're not mine. (Does anyone else find it difficult to find a different way to say this? I hate to writing the same thing every chapter, but I'm really paranoid that I'm going to get sued if I don't haha)**_

_**Thanks again,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Eight.<strong>_

"I don't think this is a good idea, Jethro." Duckie told his friend simply as they walked towards Lana's room.

"Yeah, Duck, you said that already." Gibbs replied coolly.

"And yet, you still don't listen. No changes there then, I see." The sarcasm oozed from the MEs voice, and Gibbs smiled, glad to see that tiredness had not affected the man's wit. It had taken Gibbs quite a while to convince his other agents to stay at the navy yard, but after seeing Duckie's response to him being there, he was glad he had persevered. He could only imagine what Duckie would have been like if he had allowed Abby to come along, with her frantic worrying and overexcitement; never mind everyone else too.

"How is she Duck?" Gibbs asked seriously.

"Well, she's still a little groggy from the medication, and she's sore, but I think Miss Gomez will be fine-although, it will take a while." Duckie knew that Gibbs was asked for both his medical, and his personal opinion, but he decided to only give the first. His personal thoughts were that Lana _would _be fine; because she wouldn't rest until she was, but he was worried about the pressure she would put on herself to achieve it.

The finally stopped outside of Lana's room, and Duckie knocked gently before pushing open the door.

The first thing that Gibbs noticed when he saw his youngest agent lying, seemingly asleep, in the overly white hospital bed, was how small she looked. Lana had always stood up herself perfectly well, and she had never let anyone push her around, but looking at her, Gibbs wanted nothing more than to wrap her in bubble wrap, or cotton wool, or both. It was the first time he had seen Lana look as young as he knew she was, and quite frankly, it shocked him. Her face was pale, and he saw the plastic tubes that snaked across her face, tucked behind her ears and into her nose. Gibbs silently went over to the side of her bed, and slipped his fingers in between hers; trying hard to ignore the flooding memories of the last time he had held her hand. He was a little surprised that when he squeezed her hand gently, she squeezed back. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked around wearily. When Lana saw her boss, she smiled weakly.

"Hey Boss." She murmured, almost inaudibly.

"How are you feeling Agent Gomez?" Gibbs asked her softly

"Oh, never better Gibbs, really. I'm on top of the world." She replied sarcastically.

"Well I'm glad to hear that." Gibbs answered, matching her tone. "Everyone else is dying to come and see you. It took me so long to get away and come here alone." He added, more conversationally than anything, trying to put off what he had originally come to do.

"Is everyone else Ok? Did anybody else get hurt?" Lana asked, starting to get panicky, attempting to sit up before Gibbs eased her back down again.

"Lana, calm down ok? The others are all fine. It was just you." He told her quickly, because the girl was still trying to manoeuvre herself into a different position, and it was clearly extremely painful for her.

"Oh, lucky me." She retorted, wincing as she lay back down.

"Do you want me to call your brother?" Gibbs asked, wondering to himself if anyone had actually called JJ about his little sister.

"What's the point? He won't come anyway." Lana replied quietly.

"What about Lisa?" Gibbs suggested, to which Lana only scoffed. Gibbs knew that Lana did not get on very well with her older sister, but he couldn't not at least offer.

"Do you know who did it yet?" Lana questioned and Gibbs smiled, thinking that he should have expected Lana's forwardness to come through at some point in the conversation.

"Actually, that's what I came here to talk to you about." Gibbs said, pulling the chair next to her bed slightly closer. "We _think _we know, but I wanted to ask you; is there anyone who you think might have wanted to kill you?"

Lana took only a few seconds to think before answering.

"Too many to count. Who do you think it was?"

Gibbs looked at Duckie, who stood near the door silently. He could tell that the other man did not think that it was a good idea for him to be speaking so frankly to Lana at that moment, but Gibbs also could tell that Lana just wanted to know.

"Jonathon Laney." Gibbs told her simply, noting the look of disapproval that flitted across Duckie's face.

Lana considered his answer for a minute before nodding slowly.

"It makes sense," She decided "I did kill his brother."

"The problem is; I don't think Laney's going to be satisfied until he completes the job." Gibbs admitted, earning himself low, angry mutters from the doorway.

"Meaning he's not going to stop until I'm dead?" Lana didn't look scared, but there was _something _in her eyes that meant that Gibbs couldn't lie to her.

"Right." He confirmed.

"Then you have to leave." She said firmly, pushing herself forward and yelping like a wounded puppy.

"What?" Gibbs exclaimed, sure that he had heard wrong.

"Gibbs, it's not safe for you guys here!" Lana cried, wincing and whimpering as she tried desperately to free herself from the mountain of blankets that had been piled on top of her. Duckie rushed over and tried to help Gibbs force her back into the bed, but Lana was having none of it. She had her mind set, and there wasn't a lot that either Gibbs or Duckie could do about it. However, while neither man would usually give in to such demands, they were both terrified that Lana would injure herself further.

"I swear to God, if you guys don't get out of here now, I'm going to drive you back to the navy yard myself, with my foot up your ass!" she called over their protests. Duckie grabbed Gibbs' arm and pulled the other man over to the other side of the room. Duckie was probably the only person on the planet that could get away with such an action, and live to tell the tale.

"Jethro," he muttered quietly his friend. "I think we should just go. As much as I don't want to leave Miss Gomez alone, you know as well as I do that she won't calm down again until she knows we are safe."

"But we are safe Duck; Laney's not interested in us. We're not important enough to him." Gibbs protested.

"Do you know that for certain Jethro? Can you convince Lana that you are one hundred percent sure of that?"

Gibbs sighed, defeated, because he knew the answer was no. He looked over at the girl and knew that she was truly determined in her threats to drive them away herself. He nodded subtly at Duckie and went back over to Lana.

"Listen to me, Agent Gomez: Duck and I are going back to the yard now, but there's going to be an armed guard outside of this door, twenty-four/seven."

Lana went to argue, but Gibbs put his hand up to stop her before she could.

"There's no discussion about this Lana. I mean it. And I'm going to get them to bring a phone in here, so I can phone you every hour to make sure you're doing as you're told."

"I'm not a child, Gibbs." she told him, irritated.

"I know you're not, and I'd do the same thing if it was Tim, or Ziva or Tony. Understand?"

Lana nodded slightly, folding her arms sulkily over her chest, just to be awkward as Gibbs guided her back into a comfier position.

"When can we come back?" He asked, allowing her the small feat of being able to control that, at least.

"When Laney's wearing those lovely silver bracelets that we like to give out to people."

The drive back to the navy yard was a quiet one for Duckie and Gibbs. Gibbs had tried to insist that Duckie should go home and sleep, after being up with Lana all night, but the ME argued against him, and Gibbs found he no longer had the energy to protest. Gibbs could feel the annoyance towards him radiating from Duckie's body, so he decided to put the radio on, to try and fill some of the suffocating silence in the car.

Traffic was heavy, so it took a while longer than Gibbs had planned on. Duckie still hadn't spoken to him as they emerged from the lift, into the bullpen. The rest of the team jumped up from their seats as they came over, eager to hear what Gibbs had to say.

"How is Lana, Gibbs?" Ziva asked, not wanting to wait until Gibbs offered the information.

"Stubborn." Gibbs replied simply.

The team asked more questions, which Gibbs asked as monosyllabically as he could get away with, and Duckie contributed where necessary. They explained that Lana had thrown them out when she had heard about Laney, and Tony laughed out loud when Duckie told them about Lana's threats to escort them out herself. They had been talking for over an hour when the phone on Tim's desk rang. It had been just under two hours since Gibbs and Duckie had left Lana at the hospital, and Gibbs was itching to get back there. Abby had nagged and nagged to be allowed to go, and Gibbs had always said no, because he knew that Abby would not be able to bring herself to be as firm with Lana as he had been.

For a few minutes, they continued to chat quietly as Tim spoke on the phone, but he suddenly called out loudly, and it was impossible to ignore him.

"What? That's impossible! How did that happen? We'll be right there" Gibbs felt his blood run cold as Tim slammed down the phone hurried, a look of sheer panic on his face as he looked at them. Gibbs knew immediately that something had happened, and he cursed himself for leaving Lana.

"Gibbs, Lana's gone." Tim said, sounding terrified, his voice shaking. "Somebody took her."


	10. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Ok guys, I know it's been a few weeks, but I've been uber busy, and also, I got a little blocked, and I didnt really want to write when I didnt feel like it, so that I didnt ruin the story. Hopefully, you won't think that I have!**_

_**Alright, so, none of the characters are mine except Lana and Jonathon Laney, and all of the others belong to the amazing creators of NCIS.**_

_**Once again, please R+R because I'd love to hear people's opinions!**_

_**Thanks again,**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Nine.<strong>_

Gibbs led his team to where Lana's room was, and kind of hoped that it was some kind of joke. Yes, he would be extremely angry with whoever had thought it would be funny, but at least Lana would be safe, where she was supposed to be.

However, when he arrived at the room, he dejectedly saw that he was not mistaken. Lana was indeed gone. The sheets were strewn across the room, tubes and cables dangled aimlessly over the side of the bed. The water jug from the bedside cabinet had been knocked onto the floor, with water and shattered glass spread across almost the entire surface of the floor. Gibbs sighed and turned to the rest of his team, ready to give them their instructions.

"Tony, start processing the room; Ziva, go and talk to witnesses and see if you can get something from them; and Tim, go and find the security tapes."

The three of them nodded sombrely, and went to carry out their tasks, wishing that they didn't have to.

"How the hell does someone come into a hospital, get past an armed guard, kidnap a patient, and get out again?" Gibbs exclaimed as he left the room, meeting Duckie and Palmer.

"By doing that," Duckie replied simply, nodding his head towards the now dead agent outside of Lana's room.

"Gunshot?" Gibbs asked, though he knew the answer.

"The poor fellow didn't even have time to reach for his gun." Duckie replied sombrely, unaware of what might happen next.

"Are you guys sure you're ready for this?" Tim asked, for about the millionth time, as he tried to put off putting the security camera footage into the DVD player.

"Just put it in, Tim." Gibbs snapped, desperate to hide his anxiety over what might be on the security footage from the hospital. While nobody really wanted to see what was on the footage, Tim would not disobey a direct order, so he begrudgingly slid the disc into the player, and took a step backwards.

When the screen flickered to life, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Nurses and doctors walked past; the armed guard wondered around outside of Lana's room; relatives of other patients passed by, some looking happy, others sad. Gibbs was about to conclude that the footage was useless and turn it off, but then he saw him.

Laney appeared in the corner of the screen, his face shielded from view, but they all knew it was him. He shuffled over to Lana's room and was stopped by the guard. Laney took out his gun and shot the agent before anyone else had a chance to respond and Laney wasted no time. He was in and out of Lana's room within seconds, dragging a completely uncooperative Lana behind him. She was kicking and screaming, trying to fight her way out of the situation she found herself in, despite the fact that the end of Laney's gun was pressed against the side of her head. She must have known, as Gibbs and his team did that Lana was too valuable to him. He could use her for so much, use her to his advantage, he was not going to risk her. Laney backed out the same way as he had come, brandishing his gun to the people trying to stop him, before looking up the camera, giving it a cold, cruel and twisted smile, and shooting that too. By the time, the screen went blank; Ziva had had to turn away, unable to watch the images as well as hearing the screams from her young friend. Tim was close behind her, and Tony was trying to imagine that it was just some stranger that meant nothing to him, though it was harder than he had though. Gibbs was just glad that Abby was stashed away in her lab, manically processing the little amount of evidence from Lana's room. He knew that she would not have done very well in watching it, and it would have been pointless to subject her to it. Thinking Abby made him want to know if she had made any progress, so he silently left the others in the bullpen and went to the elevator.

"Gibbs," Abby said frantically as he entered her lab "Do you have anything yet?"

"I'm hoping you're going to be able to answer that Abbs." He replied, suddenly disappointed and frustrated. If Abby was asking if _he _had anything, it meant that _she_ didn't.

"I've been processing the evidence you guys bought back, but there's nothing to tell us anything we don't know!" she exclaimed, sensing Gibbs' setback over her not having anything, and wanting to justify it somehow. If the evidence couldn't tell them anything, how could she be blamed? These self-conscious thoughts that ran through Abby's head were only to mask the fear she felt over what might be happening to Lana, and she was too scared to ask if they had discovered anything, if the footage from the hospital had given them something-_anything_-to work on.

"Gibbs?" she said, barely audible

"Yes?"

"Promise me you'll bring her back." Gibbs could see tears started to sparkle in Abby's eyes, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.

"I promise" he assured her, though honestly, he wasn't even sure if he could keep that promise.

They stood like that for a while, and only stopped when Gibbs' phone began to ring in his pocket. He snatched it out and answered it quickly.

"Gibbs." He greeted hurriedly, hoping for something he could actually do.

"Boss, you've got to get up here. He's on the phone."

Gibbs and Abby emerged from the elevator, though Gibbs had tried to convince Abby to remain in her lab. However, he should have known that she wouldn't, and didn't waste much time trying to make her. The bullpen was silent, and Tony, Ziva, Duckie and Palmer all stood around the phone, waiting to hear what was going on, while Tim sat at his computer, ready to work on tracking the call.

"Yeah, Gibbs," Gibbs said, putting on his best, most authoritive and intimidating voice.

"Ah, Agent Gibbs, I've been waiting a while," Laney's voice rasped at him "where were you?"

"That's no concern of yours Laney," Gibbs replied coolly "Where's Agent Gomez?"

"Oh, she's in safe hands. For now." Laney told them, thoroughly enjoying playing with them.

"We will find you Laney, believe me, and when we do, you will answer to me" Gibbs growled, low and menacingly, losing his patience "So the sooner you hand yourself in, and bring Agent Gomez with you, the easier it will be for everyone."

"But where would the fun in that be, Agent Gibbs?" Laney chimed in a sing-songy voice, sending shivers down Abby's spine.

"Where is Lana?" Gibbs repeated, his agitation levels going through the roof.

"I told you; she's fine, she's right next to me actually, and there's only one thing you have to do to make sure she stays fine."

"What's that?"

"Let my men go." Laney demanded, meaning the few people that Gibbs had managed to arrest before Lana shot them just a few days ago.

"No! Gibbs don't do it!" They heard Lana shout in the background, and short, sharp slap and a yelp followed it. Tony had to stop himself from grabbing the phone and screaming lots of very graphic threats to Laney, so he simply turned and walked away a few steps, biting hard on his own finger.

"I'll see what I can do." Gibbs answered, hurriedly, trying to distract Laney from Lana.

"What? That's not good enough Agent Gibbs."

"Alright! Alright, I'll arrange it now." Gibbs said, admitting defeat. "How will I know where to deliver them to?"

"Just let them go; they know where to go."

"And Lana?"

"I will deliver her to you personally."

"It might take a while," Gibbs warned, not wanting to have completely given in to Laney's demands.

"If you want to see Lana Gomez again, you will do it in the next four hours. Time's ticking Agent Gibbs; better get to work."

The phone suddenly clicked dead, and Gibbs swore loudly.

"What's the matter Gibbs?" Abby asked, looking ecstatic, "We're getting her back, you should be happy."  
>"Abby, he said we'd see Lana again, but he didn't say anything about her being alive."<p> 


	11. Chapter 10

_**A/N Hey guys!**_

_**Ok, so first of all, I'm horribly aware of the fact that I'm leaving loads of time between each upload at the moment, so I'm going to try writing shorter chapters and uploading at least every other day, instead of longer chapters less frequently and see how that goes. **_

_**Once again, I own no one but Lana and Laney, and anyone you recognise aren't mine. (sadly haha) **_

_**Alright, so I seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE all the amazing responses I'm getting, so please R+R because I'd love to hear more of people's opinions (even if they aren't particularly good, I'm totally open to constructive criticism!)**_

_**I'm kind of toying with the idea of a sequel, so if anyone's got any suggestions as to what they think they would like to happen afterwards, I'd love to hear some :)**_

_**Thanks again,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

_**PS, I realise that the whole thing about Lana only being 16 and the school thing might not be that realistic, so if anyone from the states wants to enlighten me about how this kind of thing might work (or even if it would work at all) that would be great because I'm genuinely interested!**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter 10.<strong>_

"Dammit McGee!" Gibbs exclaimed angrily "Why aren't we getting anything?"

"I'm sorry Boss, but he wasn't on the phone for long enough. I'm having trouble tracing the call."

"Yeah well, sure McGee," Gibbs spat sarcastically "I'm sure Lana's probably having trouble _staying alive_, so let's just try a little harder ok."

"Jethro," Duckie said quietly, almost warningly.

"What Duck?" Gibbs replied harshly, turning to his friend.

"Yelling at Timothy isn't helping anyone." Duckie answered rationally, though he could fully understand Gibbs' feelings. They all shared them. They were all worried for Lana's safety, but none of them knew what to do. As they did on a day-to-day basis, they waited for Gibbs to tell them what to do. Gibbs looked around at his team, which he had almost overlooked in his desperateness. Tony and Ziva looked at him expectantly. Abby had returned to her lab after the end of the phone call, determined that she was going to find _something_. Gibbs quickly went through the known facts in his mind and made his decision.

"Tony, get Lana and Laney's pictures out to the media, get everyone on the lookout."

"But Gibbs, won't that just make Laney mad?" Tony questioned, concerned that doing something wrong could cost Lana her life, which was already hanging dangerously in the balance of things.

"Maybe, but he'll more likely get careless. He'll make a mistake, and that's when we'll get him." Tony agreed with the logic and began the task, feeling a lot better now that he had something to do.

"What about me Gibbs?" Ziva asked, feeling completely useless at that moment while everyone else was contributing something helpful to their efforts.

"I want you to go back and watch the footage from the hospital, interview witnesses again; see if we missed anything."

Ziva nodded and started, grateful for something to do. Gibbs looked at the clock. Thirty minutes had passed since Laney's phone call. They had three and a half hours left.

Gibbs just prayed that it would be enough.


	12. Chapter 11

_**A/N why howdy! **_

_**Ok, so this is another attempt at shorter chapters with quicker updates**_

_**I wrote most of this while I had a stupidly long break at college, and I had nothing college related to do lol.**_

_**Once again, I only own the characters you don't recognise like Lana, Laney and, in this chapter, Jean Bowler.**_

_**Please R+R because I would love to hear people's opinions, and I'll always try and take on board what is being said. I am a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their opinions, so even if you dont like the story, please, say so!**_

_**I'm gunna just shut up now and let you read it haha :D**_

_**Chapter 11**_

Just over an hour later, when nothing had changed, and they knew nothing new, everyone was growing more and more anxious by the minute. They had watched several reports on the tv about Lana's kidnapping. The phone had not stopped ringing, but it was only people asking questions, not answering the ones they wanted. Abby had returned to the bull pen, clearly not wanting to be alone. Abby often felt kind of cut off from everyone else when she was in her lab, and especially at times like these, she just wanted to feel included, like she was actually being helpful. They were all painfully aware of the clock on the wall, ticking away all their time, the deadline getting closer and closer. However, an hour and a half had already been lost, and there was only half an hour until Gibbs' own personal deadline. He would do anything he could to not have to give up Laney's men, but he would not, under any circumstances, risk Lana. Not for anything. He would release them within half of the time Laney had allowed in order to ensure they reached their leader in the given time frame. In the mean time, Gibbs worked hard with his team to make sure he had plenty of alternatives.

They were all distracted, busy working on their various tasks when the woman came out of the elevator. The whole office was full of commotion, so no one even heard the familiar ding that signalised someone's arrival. She was a middle aged woman, somewhere between 35 and 45, but she looked on the younger end of the scale. Her hair was dark and vibrant, resting effortlessly on her shoulders. He eyes were big and bright, always looking amazed at what was around her, as if she was always subjected to information that no one else knew. She wasn't very tall, and was slender and slight, giving the impression to most people that saw her that she had been a dancer in slightly younger years.

She looked around and found the man she knew she was looking for. It was not the first time she had been in the NCIS offices, and Gibbs was well known throughout. She walked over quickly, and cleared her throat to get his attention.

Gibbs' head, along with everyone else's, snapped up, caught off guard by his sudden interruption.

"Can I help you?" Gibbs asked, a little impatiently, not exactly appreciating the distraction from his rescue mission.

"Actually," the woman replied, rather timidly "I think I can help you."

The whole team's interest was immediately peaked, and they all paused in what they were doing to listen. The woman noticed, and didn't waste any more time.

"My name's Jean Bowler. My husband works here, in human resources. He told me about the young agent that was missing, and then I saw her picture on the TV. I knew she wasn't as old as most agents, but I hadn't realised she was that young. I was walking my dogs this afternoon. I usually walk down the high street with them, then through the park and back again. But today I didn't. I went around the back of the house, rather than the front. I don't even know why." Gibbs suddenly found that he and the rest of the team had completely stopped what they had been doing, and were slowly moving closer and closer to the woman, intent on hearing her every word.

"Behind where I live is a huge old house. It's mostly falling down, but I've seen kids go there on a weekend. It's usually at night that people go in though, so when I saw a car pull up outside there this afternoon, i was a little surprised. I moved out of sight and watched. Agent Gibbs, I saw a man carry a young girl into the house, and she looked just like your agent."

It took a few seconds for Gibbs to register what the woman in front of him was telling him, but when he did, he moved into action mode straight away.

"What's the address?" he asked, grabbing a pen and paper and scribbling down the location he was told. While he was doing this, Ziva, Tony and Tim grabbed their gear, knowing exactly what was going on.

"Thank you." Gibbs breathed to the woman as he passed her, kissing her on the cheek, though unprofessionally, as he hurried towards the elevator.

"Duckie!" Gibbs called behind him, summoning his friend to follow. Each member of the team followed Gibbs' lead, also kissing the woman as they left, and she found herself suddenly surrounded. The team were quick, however, and they were soon gone.

They were going to get Lana, and nothing was about to stop them.


	13. Chapter 12

_**A/N Bonjour les amis! **_

_**Alright, so I know it's been quite a while, but I've got my first AS exams just after christmas, so I've been revising like mad for those and I've not really had much time for this :(**_

_**We're almost at the end! This is the last but one, possibly two, chapter! I'll be really sad to this end! I've had so much fun writing this, but don't worry, I have idea's for at least another two stories :D **_

_**Once again, I own no one but Lana, which makes me hugely sad, but hey ho! lol**_

_**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE R+R because I would really love to hear what people think of this, especially now that it's coming to an end! **_

_**I have most of the next chapter written, but it needs a little tweaking, so I plan to have it up over the weekend possibly. It's supposed to snow quite heavily here tonight (:D) so if it does and I dont have college, I will almost definately upload the next chapter tomorrow Yeyyy! **_

_**Thanks again,**_

_**xoloveJBox**_

_**Chapter Twelve.**_

The old house that Jeanne Bowler had described was even more derelict than Gibbs had imagined. It was a lot bigger than he had expected. He counted six windows on the front, and only one of them still had glass in the frames, though it had a brick shaped hole in it. Graffiti covered the lower half the building and the porch sagged from years of neglect. Gibbs guessed that no one had lived there for at least twenty years, and he didn't even want to think about what was inside. The only thing that mattered was that it was quite possible that Lana was somewhere in those four walls, and they were not leaving without her, no matter what happened.

"Ok," Gibbs murmured, leaning in close to his team, ready to relay his proposed plan. "Tim and Ziva; go through the front door. Tony, you're with me through the back. When we get inside, everyone take a floor."

The team nodded in agreement, each determined to carry out the task at hand.

"Let's go," Gibbs concluded "We're not leaving here without our girl."

Gibbs nodded quickly to Tony before crashing through the back door. They rushed into a kitchen area, and a shocked man turned to them. Even in the darkening light, Gibbs could tell exactly who it was.

Jonathon Laney.

It almost seemed like slow motion, as Gibbs watched Laney's eyes dart around and glimpse a large butcher's knife that was lying on the counter. Laney's eyes flickered with ideas, and as Laney reached across to grab the shimmering blade, Gibbs reacted. He pulled the trigger of his gun one, two, three times.

There was still a cruel, twisted smile on Laney's face as time caught up with itself, and everything went back to its regular speed. Gibbs and Tony moves quickly, desperate not to lose any more time. Tony raced across the living room while Gibbs searched for a basement. He was about to give up looking, almost coming to the conclusion that there wasn't one, before he spotted it. The door had been covered with a rug, but in all the movement of their entrance, the material had moved and a glowing silver latch was exposed. Gibbs dove for it, adrenaline rushing through his body, ripped the dusty, dull carpet away. His hands trembled with anticipation as he unlocked the latch. He yanked open the door and brandished his gun, ready for more surprises. However, none came, and Gibbs lowered himself down into the basement.

There was not a lot of light in the basement, so Gibbs shone his little flash-light down the steps. His spine tingled as he went further and further underground, but there was something telling him to keep going.

The basement was damp and cold, and Gibbs could see his breath as he slowly walked around, his gun poised and flash-light raised. It smelt like old, wet newspaper, and he crinkled his nose slightly.

It was then, as he turned, that he saw her.

Lana.

She sat, hugging her knees, in the corner, her head bowed; and even from across the room, Gibbs could see her trembling. He immediately crossed the room to her, and put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. However, she jumped under his touch, and began kicking and screaming frantically, taking Gibbs by surprise.

"Get away from me!" she shrieked manically, thrashing out.

"Lana, Lana it's me, it's Gibbs." He yelled over her cries, trying to stop the young girl from hitting him. At the sound of his voice, she suddenly stopped and looked up at him. Gibbs saw tears in her eyes, and her cheeks were red and puffy. There was a small bruise on her face, but other than that, she looked relatively undamaged.

"Gibbs," she breathed, "You have to get out of here! If Laney comes back, he'll-"

"Lana, shhhhh," Gibbs cooed softly "Laney isn't coming back."

There was a small glimpse of confusion in her face until she realised what he meant, and then she physically relaxed. She took a deep breath and allowed Gibbs to help her stand.

"Can you walk?" he asked worriedly, wandering how they would get up the stairs into the house if she couldn't.

"I...I think so." Lana replied shakily, leaning slightly into Gibbs for support. They moved slowly together towards the stairs, where they could hear Tony shouting.

"Gibbs? Gibbs, where are you?"

"Down here Tony!" Gibbs yelled back, and a second later, Tony's face appeared above them.

"Lana!" He exclaimed, clearly surprised to see the girl. Tony reached down and took Lana's hand, helping her up, and within just a few minutes, they were walking out of the house. They had taken the front door, so that Lana could avoid seeing Laney, who still lay in the kitchen.

When he saw them, Duckie rushed over, conflicted between Doctor and Friend mode. He started checking for split stitches, and Lana flinched as he touched the tender skin around her scars.

"Ow!" she exclaimed "Geez Duck, didn't anyone tell you I got shot there?"


	14. Chapter 13

**_A/N: This is it folks, the final chapter..._**

**_I have had so much fun writing this story, and I'd like to thank you all for reading it, and for all the amazing comments I've had. They've honestly been the inspiration and motivation for me actually finishing this story(I start so many stories and never finish then lol ) I have oodles of ideas for a sequel so hopefully I should be able to get started on that soon :D _**

**_I own nothing but Lana. All the credit goes to the amazing writers and directors and producers of NCIS 3 _**

**_Ok, please R+R because I'd love to hear what people think, especially now that it's over!_**

**_Thanks again and again and again and again and...well, you get the picture lol :)_**

**_xoloveJBox_**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter thirteen.<strong>

_*Four weeks later.*_

Tony finally found her, in the gym, running gently on the treadmill.

Her hair was tied up, but a few loose strands had escaped the rubber band she had used to capture her dark curls. Her face was covered in a light sheen of sweat, and Tony guessed she had been there for a while. Lana had both of her earphones in, and she didn't really noticed him at first, she was so immersed in her exercise.

When Lana noticed Tony, she pulled her earphones out and hooked them into her pocket, and smiled at him.

"Hey." he greeted simply.

"How's it going?" she replied breathily, panting, as she didn't stop what she was doing.

"What are you doing Lana?" Tony asked, trying his hardest to give the girl a disapproving look.

"What does it look like I'm doing Tony?" Lana answered, trying her hardest to ignore his expression.

"I know what you're doing, but should you be doing it?"

"Probably not, but what should I be doing DiNozzo? Vance won't give me my badge and gun back yet, and I certainly wasn't going to stay home all day."

"Doesn't that hurt though?" he asked, referring to the wounds on her back and stomach.

"Oh yeah." she puffed.

"Then why don't you stop?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Lana said, smiling mischievously.

"Duckie won't be happy, when he finds out what you're doing in here." Tony told her seriously.

"Is that why you're here? You're spying on me for Duckie?"

"No. Actually," he said, pulling a large brown envelope from the inside of his jacket. "I came to give you this."

"What is it?" she asked as curiosity took a hold of her, and she reached out for the envelope.

"Read it: you'll find out."

Lana stabbed a few buttons of the treadmill and slowed the machine, so that she could keep her balance without holding onto the sides. Her long, slim fingers peeled underneath the edge of the seal, and she tore a corner carefully, eager to know what it contained, but Tony stopped her before she could reveal anything.

"Actually," he said quickly "Read it when I'm gone. But seriously Lana, this is a big thing, and I want you think very carefully about it. I'll completely understand, whatever you choose, and it's totally up to you."

Lana was buzzing with excitement by then, almost desperate to know what could make Tony act so seriously.

"Ok. Now go away so I can read it." she demanded, though not in a harsh way. Tony grinned and turned away, walking back towards the door.

"Don't stay here too long: Ducky will find you eventually." He warned over his shoulder.

A half hour later saw Lana emerging from the elevator, talking, though Tony and the rest of the team couldn't see anyone there.

...alright Duck man, I get it; no more running." she strode over to them, the envelope tucked carefully under her freshly showered arm, glaring at Tony.

"You told." she accused, not asked, and he held his hands up, playfully defensive.

"I did not," he denied "Duckie asked if I had seen you, and I wasn't going to lie."

"Well, thanks Tony." Lana replied, dumping her bag on her desk and making sure everyone was working before wandering over to Tony, and crouching next to him so that no one else could hear.

"I read the stuff," She told him quietly, a wide grin spreading gleefully across her face "and I think it's a great idea."

Less than a week later, when Tim and Ziva walked into the bullpen together, Tony and Lana were talking animatedly, Gibbs was working, and it was before eight in the morning. Neither had a chance to speak to anyone before Vance emerged from his office and appeared over the balcony.

"Gomez" he barked, summoning her to his office. Ziva and Tim glanced nervously at her, wandering what was going on. However, Lana looked at Tony, who only winked at her, neither looking particularly bothered.

Lana was not in the Director's office for long before she skipped down the stairs happily. Duckie and Abby had appeared in the bullpen while she had been gone, since the day was quiet, and there was nothing for them to do.

"What was all that about?" Tim asked curiously when Lana reached them.

"New badge." Lana replied simply, holding up a small black wallet.

"A new badge?" Ziva questioned, "What for?"

"My name's changed." Lana replied, extremely casually for the words that were coming from her mouth. "I got adopted."

It took a few seconds for the others to connect with what she was saying, but when they did, they all rushed over to her, and Abby enveloped her in a vice-like hug.

"So, what's your new name?" Tony asked, though he already knew the answer.

Lana stood at the edge of the bullpen, beaming proudly, looking at their expectant expressions.

"You are all now looking at very special agent Lana Marie DiNozzo."


End file.
